1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of gastroplasty, which is as a special surgical procedure for controlling obesity, and more particularly relates to an improved special surgical procedure which utilizes a calibrating apparatus, which adapted to be inserted and proceeded within the stomach, in conjunction with a gastric banding surgical procedure to form the stomach into an upper cavity and lower cavity with a small passageway having a predetermined diameter communicating therebetween.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art, since the early 1960's, to utilize surgical procedures on the stomach as a means for treating obesity. In performing such surgery, invasive surgery in the form of making an incision into the stomach, use of staples or use of suturing procedures was required in order to control the size and volume of the stomach cavity. By controlling the size or volume of the stomach cavity, the food receiving cavity was reduced in size to limit the amount of food which a patient could eat before feeling full, which resulted in weight reduction.
In 1980, at the Ullevaal in Oslo, Norway and in Houston, Tex., a special surgical procedure known as gastric banding was developed as the simplest and least invasive operation for morbid obesity. The gastric banding operation utilized a dacron vascular graft which is placed around the upper part of the stomach and the dacron vascular graft was used in place of stapling. The gastric banding provided an improvement over the known surgical techniques because it was the least invasive operation for morbid obesity because the stomach is not crushed, cut or penetrated by staples or sutures in performing the operation.
As a result of the known surgical procedures, undesirable side effects were experienced in terms of unwanted tissue reaction and adhesions developing at the surgical site.
It was also known in the art to perform a vertical banding gastroplasty wherein the stomach is divided into an upper and lower pouch by forming a passageway in the side of the stomach. In such surgery, it was difficult to control the size of the passageway between the upper and lower pouches. In order to control the size of the passageway cavity, a hand held probe was inserted into the stomach and the stomach was sutured or stapled around the probe in order to obtain a desired diameter for the passageway. The hand held probe was then removed completing the surgery.